Aaron Kosminski is one of only two suspects (the other being Joseph
Barnett) against whom there is real evidence or testimony. The case against
Kosminski is stronger than many of us who believe in alternate theories
are generally prepared to admit -- it is even stronger than those who suspect
Kosminski usually dare to argue. In particular, those who suspect Kosminski
elevate the opinions of Dr. Robert Anderson to such Olympian heights that
newcomers can get the impression Kosminski is only important as "Anderson's
Suspect." In fact, Kosminski makes a perfectly respectable suspect
whether or not Anderson ever heard his name.

Swanson

Aaron Kosminski should properly be called "Swanson's Suspect"
as it is clear from the wealth of detail he provides that it was Swanson,
not Anderson, who personally arranged the lineup where an eyewitness allegedly
identified him. As Swanson's favourite witness was Lawende, it is virtually
certain that Kosminski was suspected of the Eddowes murder in Mitre Square.

Anderson

Eventually (1910) accepted the Kosminski solution, based on the evidence
of Swanson's Witness (probably Lawende, see above.) In 1908 he gave an
interview implicating Barnett. Who he suspected at the time is controversial.
Melvin Harris cites contemporaneous notes that he had no suspects at all,
but the Stephen White story says Anderson favoured "a young Jewish
medical student."

Watkins

It is now established that PC Watkins was the "City PC near Mitre
Square" who is quoted by both Sims and Macnaghton as seeing a man
resembling Kosminski flee the scene of the Eddowes murder.

Sims

Journalist covering the murders indicates 3 suspects, one of whom is
believed to be Kosminski. This suspect "had at one time been employed
in a hospital in Poland." If Kosminski was a former medical student,
he could have been the man Anderson favoured from day one, regardless of
his later comments about Barnett.

White

Sgt. Stephen White encountered a suspect he described as tall, thin
and cultured, probably near Dutfield's Yard on the night of the double
event. It was this description that supposedly gave rise to Anderson's
suspicion of a young Jew. Was this man Kosminski?

Smith, Major

Major Smith wrote in his memoirs: "After the 2nd crime I sent word
to Sir Charles Warren that I had discovered a man very likely to be the
man wanted." Smith's Suspect was a man "who had been a medical
student." Smith characteristically omits any mention of race or religion,
but it seems likely that this is yet another reference to Kosminski, as
he once worked in a hospital, and there are few suspects who were "very
likely" to be "the man wanted." Sugden's choice of Dr. John
Orford must be wrong. To refer to the Senior Resident Medical Officer of
the Royal Free Hospital as a man who had been a medical student would be
an absurd understatement. Smith cleared this suspect by proving his Hanbury
Street alibi "without the shadow of a doubt." If Kosminski had
an alibi for the Chapman murder, he can't be Jack whatever Lawende thought
he saw.

Smith, Emma

A story on the internet claims Emma Smith actually named "Aaron
Kosminski" as her attacker before she died. Due to serious discrepancies
in m.o., Smith is no longer considered a Ripper victim by most historians.
If this is the crime of which Kosminski was accused, he is unlikely to
have been the Ripper. For one thing, Swanson's Witness would have to be
someone other than Lawende.

Macnaghton

The Macnaghton Memorandum lists Kosminski as one of the final 3 police
suspects, with Ostrog and Druitt. Macnaghton likes Druitt, but only because
of "private info" i.e. family gossip. This list is probably the
document Sims saw in researching his articles -- making it probable that
the Polish hospital worker was Kosminski.

The perceptive reader will have noticed a problem in all this. The contemporary
sources who suspected Aaron Kosminski or someone like him contain a major
contradiction about what he looked like! If Kosminski was Jack the Ripper,
then he was slender, almost six feet tall, spoke English with cultured
manners and had strange, glowing eyes (White's description) and he was
no more than 5'7", of medium to stout build with "the appearance
of a sailor" (Lawende's description.) Could Kosminski's appearance
have changed so much between the White sighting and Swanson's lineup? Possibly.
But there is a disturbing possibility that all 3 of Macnaghton's final
suspects were thoroughly confused with each other. Consider: Kosminski's
hospital experience is falsely attributed to both Ostrog and Druitt. A
medical kit most likely inherited by Druitt from his father is falsely
attributed to Ostrog. Ostrog's description is falsely attributed to Druitt.
(See the Sims page, where the Ripper is said to be a Sims lookalike who
drowned after the last murder. Only Druitt drowned; only Ostrog resembled
Sims.) White's description of a man resembling Druitt is taken by Anderson
as a sighting of Kosminski. And Druitt's suicide is used to explain the
"mysterious disappearance" of any suspect the police can't find
-- including Tumblety! We may never know which one of these men, if any,
was the one and only Jack the Ripper.